The Inner Depths Of Lucius
by sporkoflife
Summary: Draco thinks he knows the truth about his father, but is Lucius hiding something from him?
1. Chapter 01: The Beginning

Disclaimer: I am not JK Rowling. The only characters I own from this story are Katia Lockston, Kyle Greenshaw, Jenkins, and Ophelia Adams, and only the first is really actually mentioned.  
  
Note: I know this first chapter doesn't feature too many of the original characters, this is just an introductory chapter, most of the second chapter has been written and so I can guarantee you that it DOES, and of course, the main character in this is an original. I'd rather you send feedback through email at forest_of_death@hotmail.com, but you can add any reviews on this site instead if that's what you want. I guess from this first chapter you can't tell what the plot is going to be, as it's not revealed at all in this, but you can let me know your thoughts so far all the same, as well as what you think of Katia. I worked hard to not make her a Mary-Sue, so hopefully you won't think of her as one  
  
I suppose that before I start this, I might as well introduce myself. I'm Katia Lockston, and I'm almost 21. I'm a pure blood, but with the amount of magic that my parents are able to do, they might as well be muggles. Still, not that that matters of course. I'm not anti-mud blood or anything like that, though I've always felt a sort of...well...attraction to the pure-bloods that I just don't get anywhere else. But really, it doesn't matter to me.  
  
I'm a teacher at Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry. I think I'm the youngest teacher they've ever had, and so sometimes other teachers come in to keep an eye on me and make sure I'm not just making a load of stuff up. Which I admit, I've done a few times, but that's no reason to have teachers watching me at work! I teach Defence Against The Dark Arts (which apparently is a bad omen, but I've never had anything really bad happen to me so I'm sure it's just a bunch of rubbish), and I help out in Care Of Magical Creatures whenever I get the time. That would be my first choice of job, to be honest, but Defence Against The Dark Arts was without a teacher, and for some reason they didn't think I was quite ready for the Magical Creatures job. Well, I make up for that in my lessons. I prefer to study the Dark Creatures, and though I do spells sometimes, I'm much happier just doing the creatures. Oh yes, I forgot to mention, it's my first year working here as well, so if anything bad happens, I can just blame it on that.  
  
I'm fond of the horse-like creatures here. The Forest has a bigger selection of them than I've ever seen! And, well, I haven't been to many places, but I'd still guess it's what of the biggest collections in the world at least! I just enjoy riding them. I've ridden the Thestrals a few times, some of the Hippogriffs, though most of the time they don't like me and Hagrid has to hold them back to stop them killing me, and a unicorn, though I had to ride it without a bridle which wasn't too easy for a first-timer like me. I'd love to ride a Centaur, but, well, last time I tried, Hagrid had to pick me up and run with me as fast as he could, shooting arrows at the centaurs as he ran.  
  
"In your own time, Miss. Lockston," a voice from behind me declared.   
  
"What?" I asked, spinning around. Snape was sitting there, looking incredibly impatient. Well, not incredible for him, but for anyone else it would be...eurgh, bad joke I know, sorry...  
  
"Well, Miss. Lockston, Mr. Greenshaw has been trying to get your attention for the last few minutes." He said, coldly.  
  
"Oh...right...sorry, um, Sir." I muttered, feeling myself flush slightly. I turned to face the front. Most of the class were working hard, scribbling furiously on their pieces of parchment, occasionally looking up to check something in their books. Well, you couldn't blame me for drifting off into my thoughts! It's terribly boring, just sitting there, watching people aimlessly write. But apparently I've been changing the animal of choice just too often, so this time we're having to do further research on it. And there's really only so much you can do when you're studying Kingles - I mean, really, they're just little black caterpillars that kill insects when they look them directly in the eye. Pathetic. They're hardly Dark creatures, and about the most interesting thing they've done since we began studying them 3 weeks ago is bristle their fur slightly. Pathetic! So for todays lesson I decided to hand out books for the students to copy the more "interesting" facts out of. And when I say, "Interesting," I mean facts such as, "Kingles eyes are always black." Do they really think we couldn't just look at them and see that?   
  
"What's the problem then, Kyle?" I asked. Kyle Greenshaw, a first year Ravenclaw. It's not hard to forget him. The first lesson we did Kingles he burst into hysterical tears when his Kingle neglected to shoot down the fly buzzing around the room. Yeah, his Kingle and everyone elses too.  
  
"I've been having trouble drawing my Kingle, miss." He told me, poking his piece of parchment across the desk at me. I looked at it.   
  
"Well, it looks like a Kingle to me." I told him. It really did. It's not exactly hard to draw a Kingle. It's just a small black cylinder with a lot of hairs coming out of it, and it's face is so dark there's no point even attempting to draw that. "And besides, it's the writing that I'm really paying attention to, not the drawing." Kyle nodded at me, and went back to his seat, though I could see him still attempting to perfect his drawing anyway.  
  
"Is it really a wise idea to tell them that, Miss. Lockston?" Snape asked. "Now you will be dealing with drawings even more pathetic than that, I can guarentee it."  
  
"Well, that would bother me, if we were in an art class." I told him, not turning around. He didn't say anything in response, but I could feel his eyes boring into the back of my head.  
  
"Well, I'd better be going now then. You'll be having the Slytherin's next, and it's not exactly like them to behave." He told me, before prompty leaving. Yeah, right. I seem to remember sitting in the background of Hagrid's Care Of Magical Creatures class, and seeing a bunch of Slytherins holding Blast-Ended Skrewts and throwing them at the Gryffindors, most of who ended up in the medical room before too long. And back then, Snape had told me that they were just playing, and hadn't meant to hurt anyone. Right. Like anyone really believed that.  
  
The end of lesson bell rang, and my class charged out of the room, hastily taking their pieces of parchment with them. I looked up at the clock briefly, wondering how long I'd dozed off for this time. Well, only a few minutes, nothing too bad. As my class charged out, the next class charged in, led by Draco Malfoy, a 6th year Slytherin. He seems to be very popular amongst his class, which is surprising really. The 6th year Gryffindor's followed, sitting at the opposite side to the Slytherins. Though they were generally the nicer class, I didn't prefer them. For some reason, I preferred the Slytherins, though God knows why.  
  
Apparently, these two classes hadn't shared Defence Against The Dark Arts lessons before this year, though they seem to have shared other subjects. They all knew and hated each other, which I have to say, makes the whole thing a lot more amusing. I've noticed Malfoy seems to be calmer in my class than in others, which is a bit odd, but I guess I'm happy with it. He sits right at the front with 2 other boys that I don't know, and he always stays behind after lessons to question me about my views of the Ministry. I don't know why, but I've just learnt not to question it.  
  
"Well class, today we're going to be moving on to a different creature." I told them. I was supposed to be studying last weeks creature for another lesson, but seeing as I knew Snape was watching me today, I guessed he would leave and I would be free to do what I wanted, and I was right. "We're going to be doing Jinkons." Normally at this point, I would ask for someone to tell me what a Jinkon was, but I was so used to just the one person, Hermione Granger from Gryffindor, actually knowing the answer, I didn't see the point in bothering any more.   
  
I walked to the back of the room, and opened a cupboard, where I had a lone Jinkon. It refused to get into a cage, and gave a hard peck to anyone who tried to put it in one, so I had given up and put it in the cupboard. It was hard work making it into a habitat for it, and involved a complicated design of a lot of lamps, a huge bowl of water, some fish, and a painted design that looked like towering hills. The Jinkon itself, looked something like a flamingo, though it was green with bright blue legs and beak. I picked it up easily, checked the door was shut, then carried it and put it on my desk, where it spent a while struggling before giving up.   
  
"Right, this is a Jinkon." I told the class, who were looking at it in amusement. I could see Draco trying very hard to cover up his laughter, which surprised me greatly. In other classes I'd seen him in, he was the first to try and cause trouble. "Well, you've already seen the effects of it." I told them. The class all looked up at me, confused.  
  
"Excuse me, but we haven't, we've never seen these be-" Someone from the Gryffindor side began, but I shook my hand at him and he silenced.  
  
"No, but you've now begun to experience the effects this creature has. See, the Jinkon causes all who are near it to become strangely cheerful." I told them. "This one has drank some potion, so it's effects aren't quite as defined as they normally would be, but the effect is still rubbing off on all of you. The Jinkon, despite how weak it looks, is a good partner to have in battle, as it runs to the opponent and jumps on them. When the Jinkon touches you, you get more cheerful than you were before, so cheerful that you cannot concentrate on anything. Kindof like the effects of being high." I said, thoughtfully. "BUt anyway, the Jinkon is not affecting me as I am wearing this ring." I said, holding my hand up. "As the Jinkon is already weaker, this ring cancels out the cheerfulness even more. If any of you are touched by it, you will feel more cheerful, but as I have mentioned already, it's effects are weakened by the potion." I was distracted for a few seconds by one of the boys next to Draco, who had begun to giggle hysterically. Draco gave him an embarrassed look, before punching him hard in the stomach. He stoped giggling immediatley. I knew I really SHOULD have given Draco a detention for doing that, but I was just pleased he'd shut the other boy up. Besides, he didn't seem to mind, clearly being attacked by Draco was a very common thing.  
  
"Well, I'm about to release the Jinkon. I can't guarentee what it will do, but I expect it's going to run around the classroom manically. It shouldn't try and climb on anyone yet, we'll be doing that a bit later, but if it does, I'll come and get it off you. I'm not going to tell you how to resist it just yet, as I want to see how you cope with the Jinkon's antics without using any form of magic. And then later on we'll try it in a battle, to see how you cope when you know how to resist it. Ready?" And without waiting for an answer, I released the Jinkon, which began prancing around the room as fast as it could, seeming to laugh at the children who were staring at it with gleeful expressions. Draco was having a harder time resisting than the others, staring at it with a slightly drunk expression on his face, punching himself furiously in an attempt to remove it, and randomly shooting glances at me.  
  
I watched the class for a while, far from falling asleep this time. I was randomly shouting out instructions at them, such as to write down in detail how they feel when the Jinkon is near them, and how they think they are going to resist it. No one seemed to be having any luck with it, even Hermione kept randomly bursting into fits of laughter, and I could that after 25 minutes had passed, people's cheeks were aching and they were getting very annoyed with it.  
  
"Fradreena, here!" I called, and everyone in the class turned to stare at me. It didn't take them too long to understand that I was calling the Jinkon, as it trotted happily towards me, and jumped easily up onto my desk. "This is a specially trained Jinkon." I told them. "It belongs to a friend of mine, who breeds them. This one knew me already and has been trained to obey me, and so I thought it was a good idea to use this one. We're going to start learning to fight the Jinkon now. When it comes towards you, I want you to think of the saddest thing you can. Your thought must be VERY sad for it to work. When your sad thought is fixed firmly in your mind, yell "Yougansola Veitron!" at the Jinkon, with your wand pointing firmly at the Jinkon's eyes. This should repel it, and it will come back to me. Everyone got that? Good. Now, think of your memories, and practice the chant, though do not actually point it at the Jinkon yet." I said, watching carefully as the students practiced the words. Most of them seemed to be having a very hard time remembering the words each time.  
  
"OK, ready everyone?" I asked, after a few minutes had passed. The majority of them nodded in agreement, still muttering the words under their breath. "Right, if everyone would please come and stand in front of the desk?" They obeyed, and I quickly moved the tables out to the sides. "OK, now please make a large semi-circle, facing the desk." They obeyed again, some of them looking very worried. "I will call you up one at a time, and will set the bird on you. Using the skills you have just learnt, you must resist the Jinkon's spells. I will give you as long as possible, but if i can see it isn't getting anywhere, I will have to remove her. Ready, everyone? Right, Jenkins, you're first!" I yelled. Jenkins, a mousy Gryffindor boy stepped forward nervously, and took his place in the middle of the circle. I cried out the command, and Fradreena threw herself at Jenkins, who was down on the floor laughing hysterically within seconds. "Right...we'll try that again later..." I told him, retrieving the bird, and calling the next person forward.  
  
The majority of the class managed to fight slightly with the Jinkon, though only 3 people managed to resist it. The first was Hermione Granger, who caused the Jinkon to fly back into my arms the second she stepped forward. The next was Ophelia Adams, a gothic girl from the Slytherin house, who seemed to cause a lot of amusement from everyone, including the other Slytherins. At first, I thought the Jinkon was going to win, but she pulled through in the end. And finally, Draco Malfoy managed to resist Fradreena, though he was screaming at the top of his voice whilst trying to resist the happiness, that caused all of the Gryffindors to burst into hysterical laughter, and even the Slytherins were finding it hard to cover up the smiles that had spread across their faces.   
  
The class began leaving for lunch, Draco Malfoy again trying to get my attention and talk to me, but I made a big deal about trying to put the Jinkon into the cupboard, so by the time that I'd turned around he'd given up and left. I was free for the rest of the day now, unless I decided to help out with Care Of Magical Creatures again, but I'd seen the creatures Hagrid was showing the class a few times before, and it just wasn't as exciting after a few times. With a loud sigh, I remembered that tonight was 5th and 6th years Parent Evening. I'd never attended one before; as a new teacher, Snape insisted that he took my appointments instead, but today his timetable was too busy dealing with his own classes, and it was my turn to take over. I wasn't looking forward to this at all, from what I'd heard it was one of the worst nights of the year. Still, no choice now. 


	2. Chapter 02: Parents Evening

Disclaimer: I'm not JK Rowling, the only characters I own are Katia Lockston and Ophelia Adams, etc.  
  
Another chapter should be coming soon, please let me know what you think so far!  
  
I arrived at the Great Hall early, but it looked like some of the parents were there already. A few had their children with them, but it seemed the majority had prefered to stay in their dorms.  
  
I went to sit down at my table, and looked around at everyone else. Very few of the other teachers actually had parents talking to them; most of the parents seemed more happy to be looking around at everything that was in the hall; I guess most of them had come to this school at some point and were keen to see what had changed, and some of them were definitley muggles that were interested in everything they came across.   
  
It was a while before I saw anyone I recognised, until I looked at the far end of the hall to my side, and saw Draco Malfoy standing impatiently in front of his dad. I would have known that this was his dad even if he hadn't been with his son; long blonde hair, the same pale features, long black robes. He even stood the same way that his son did. I couldn't see him properly, but from what I could guess, he was looking at the food set out on the table in front of him in what could only be disgust; the children who were in the Cooking Club and had made the food were looking very miserably up at him.   
  
At around that moment, his father felt my eyes on him, and turned to me, a curious frown on his face. He whispered something to Draco, who looked at me as well, before turning back to his dad and muttering something in response. My guess was that he was telling me his name. His father nodded and began moving swiftly towards me, his son trotting along behind him, looking slightly embarrassed.  
  
I noticed instantly as he approached, that Draco's father wore the same self-satisfied smirk, and the same glittering grey eyes.  
  
"Lucius Malfoy," He told me in a some-what sinister voice, holding out his hand for me to shake. I took it, and smiled at him.  
  
"Katia Lockston." I said in response, and he nodded, his smirk turning into more of a proper smile.  
  
"I've heard a lot about you from Draco." He said, his voice getting slightly lighter. "He thinks very highly of you."  
  
"Oh...that's um...thanks." I said in confusion, looking over at Draco who was blushing furiously.  
  
"In fact, I dare say you're his favourite teacher. You've even triamphed over Snape for the title of that, you know." He said, his eyes staring at me. I nodded briefly, not knowing what else to do under his strong gaze, and deciding to look at Draco instead, who instantly turned away, his cheeks still flushed. I gave up and looked up at Lucius. It was hard to look away once you had begun; there was such a sense of power within his eyes that you couldn't help but be drawn to them. There was also something else hidden deep inside of them, but I couldn't work out what it was. I looked away quickly, worried I was staring.  
  
"Well, you know, I'd love to talk to you more, really I would, but I know you've got a lot to do here. Maybe when term has ended, you'd like to come and have dinner with me and Draco at the manor?" He asked, glancing over at his son, who was still facing the opposite way. I laughed slightly at Draco, before responding to Lucius.  
  
"Sure, sounds good."  
  
"We've had many of the other teachers over, though only one before you, Snape, has been there for a GOOD reason." Lucius chuckled. I smiled weakly at him and nodded. Lucius Malfoy was well known for being - well - a complete bastard, and I wasn't really sure that I wanted to be around someone like that. There was no denying that I found him incredibly good looking, and there was something in him that attracted me to him, but the rumours that I'd heard about him were just too much to put up with.   
  
"Well," He whispered, looking around at the other teachers. "It'll be a bit suspicious if I hang around here for too long. So, tell me, how has Draco's performance been this year? And don't worry if it's bad, I want to know your honest opinion. Afterall," He muttered, grabbing hold of Draco's arm and viciously swinging him around so he almost lost his balance. "In the short while I've been here I've talked to nearly all of the teachers, and not one has had a good thing to say about him. Infact, they never have, so don't worry, it's not going to be a big deal anymore if he gets any bad marks." I glanced briefly at Draco, who was staring miserably at the floor, though I guessed that was more because of the pain in his arm than anything his dad had just said. I got the feeling that he had been forced to come tonight; though he had always spoken so very highly of his father, so the chances of that were actually quite low.  
  
"Nah, no worries in this subject, he's fine." I told Lucius. "He's not the best in the class, and he does have slightly violent tendancies at times," I said, pausing as Draco looked up at me, a small smile on his face, his eyes shining. "But other than that, he's doing fine, all his test marks have been above average, and he gets on very well with the creatures we've studied." I smiled at Draco, who smiled back, and then at Lucius, who smiled briefly.  
  
"You're being serious, I hope?" He asked.  
  
"Of course." I nodded. "I get the feeling Draco tries very hard in this subject."  
  
"How come most of the other teachers haven't said that, Draco?" Lucius hissed at him. I was surprised at just how cruel Lucius sounded then, and even more surprised at Draco, whose face instantly shone with fear, his eyes darting to the ground, biting his lip hard.  
  
"Well, I've seen Draco in other classes, and he does play around a lot." I admitted. "But in this class he has perfect attention." Lucius nodded. He was looking and speaking to me, but his eyes were still fixed coldly on Draco.  
  
"Well, thanks for that, very good feedback." He said with a small smile, before turning his eyes to face me. "It's about time this school had a teacher who can actually make Draco work, you should be proud. Anyway, we had better go, the chances of Draco getting any more good reviews are incredibly low. I'll send Draco to get back to you when you can come for dinner, and I'm looking forward to seeing you." He said, before turning and walking off, catching Draco's ankle hard with his foot. I thought it was an accident at first, but as Draco let out a slight yelp, I saw the furious glance on Lucius's face as he turned to his son.  
  
The rest of the night went pretty well, as in general I had good feedback for people. I didn't forget who anyone was like I was worried about, and after Lucius Malfoy, none of the parents were really very intimidating (although Ophelia Adams arriving with her mother and father, both of whom where just as gothic as her, was reasonably frightening)  
  
The rest of the term went equally well (which was fair enough, seeing as there was only one week left). We were going to be moving onto some interesting creatures, and as I told the students the details of some of the creatures that were coming up, they seemed to be equally excited as well.   
  
The last day of term brought me to my final class; the one that I had with the Slytherin and Gryffindor 6th years. The class went well enough, even if it was just another spell I was teaching them; today they were learning how to defend themselves against poisonous gases using a mixture of different spells similar to the Bubble Head Charm. There were 3 different types of these charms, depending on the properies of the gas, which was really the only difficult part about it. By the end of the lesson, everyone but Neville (who had forgotten the incantation very early in the lesson and was now in the medical room) had mastered the different spells, and a few people were remembering which properties go with which charm as well.  
  
At the very end of the lesson, I was packing up when Draco Malfoy walked over to me, clutching a small bit of paper.  
  
"Hi Drake." I said, absent mindedly to him, as I fought with my Defence book to get it into my bag. He remained silent for a moment, and handed me the piece of paper rather than talking. I glanced down at it; It was a message from Lucius.  
  
"I don't know why he sent it to me, rather than you, but I figured I should probably pass it on." He mumbled. "But it's for dinner at the Manor, and you can probably stay the night if that's what you want to do, normally people prefer to stay." I nodded.   
  
"OK, thanks."  
  
"Yeah, and I'll be there too, so if you want me to stay out of your way when you're there, you can just tell me and I'll go." I gave him a strange look.  
  
"Why do you think I wouldn't want you there?" I asked, my eyes fixed on his.  
  
"Well, generally people don't." He muttered, forcing himself to stare at the floor. "Father usually locks me out of the house in advance, and if I'm actually there, people usually ask father to make me leave, so I just figured you wouldn't want me there either." He looked so miserable, that I very almost hugged him, before I caught myself. For starters, he would probably kill me if I touched him, and second of all, it just wasn't like me to want to hug people; I myself usually scream hysterically when anyone touches me, let alone trying to hug anyone else."  
  
"Nah, I want you there." I told him. "There's nothing wrong with you, and I've never really had the chance to talk to you properly." He smiled slightly, but still didn't look up.  
  
"Don't you want to spend more time with my dad?" He asked. "You know it's probably going to be all romantic or something." I gaped at him.  
  
"Why would it be romantic?"  
  
"Well, I expect that's what father would do." He murmered. "Just because he's never met you properly before doesn't mean he won't try to get with you..." His voice trailled off. I looked at him for a while.  
  
"You better stay." I told him. "Your dad is frankly scary, and I need support from you." He laughed slightly. "You had better get going, unless you've already packed?" He shook his head.  
  
"Nah, I've still got to...um...I'll see you in a few days then, yeah?" He asked.  
  
"Sure." I nodded, wondering what exactly I was getting myself into. 


	3. Chapter 03: Dinner At The Manor

Disclaimer: I'm not JK Rowling, the only characters I own are Katia Lockston and Ophelia Adams, etc.  
  
Another chapter should be coming soon, please let me know what you think so far!  
  
I got to the Manor a little earlier than I was supposed to, but I thought it would take me a long time to find it - well, it didn't. Not at all.  
  
I wasn't really sure of where it was, but it seems like I am one of the only people in the whole of England who didn't. When I was at home, eating my lunch with my two room-mates, one of them asked where I was having dinner.  
  
"Some place called The Manor," I told them, with no interest whatsoever. Both of them gaped at me for a while before shrieking,  
  
"You're eating with the Malfoys?!?" And so I pretty much got directions from them. It wasn't hard at all to find once I arrived at the town, I could see it on the tip of a hill in the distance, it was just so damn big. Neither of them could really decide whether eating with the Malfoys was a good thing. Ann, who's a little younger than me, told me it was a good career move, but she wouldn't go near Lucius Malfoy, not even if she was offered a million pounds. (Which I'm sure is the biggest lie she has ever told in her life) My other room-mate, Jessica, (she's Ann's sister, she's just a bit older than her. But despite being sisters, they do not look remotely similar, although they both have the same nose, no matter what they say) told me that she had talked to Lucius before at a business meeting at the Ministry a while back, and he was the most patronising, vicious person she had ever met. She said it wasn't worth it, not even for his money.   
  
"You know, I think he's very nearly a billionaire." She said thoughtfully. I blinked at her.  
  
"I didn't even know he was in his millions." I told her. Both of them stared at me.   
  
"You should really - well - SOCIALISE more." Jessica told me. "Everyone at the Ministry talks about him all the time, he's always giving huge donations."  
  
"I thought you just said he was evil?" I asked her. "If he was evil, why would he give donations?" Jessica gaped at me, looking exasperated.  
  
"Because he's a show off, and he wants everyone to think he's nice!" She said, shaking her head at me. And through the rest of lunch, Ann and Jessica pretty much told me everything there was to know about Lucius Malfoy, and I don't think there was one good thing about him. I was really dreading this. I don't even know why I agreed!   
  
"Well, Draco's going to be there at least." I said, dumping my plate in the sink. Jessica looked disgusted.  
  
"Draco? Draco's going to grow up to be even worse than his father, you mark my words!"   
  
"I teach him, he's always been - well, not exactly nice, but there's nothing wrong with him." Jessica snorted.  
  
"YOU weren't there at the last Ministry party." She snorted. "Horrible little creature, he was. Nothing on his dad, but still just..." She finished by pulling an ugly face.  
  
  
  
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As I stepped up to the huge, shining gates, I looked briefly at what lay beyond them, before hitting the button at the side of it. It really was huge. Surrounded by a huge garden that looked like it had been professionally decorated; towering trees, rare and exotic flowers, a beautiful fountain, carefully cut grass, the list was endless. The house itself was also beautiful, though it had a different kind of beauty to the garden. It was dark and towering, looking ancient, yet new at the same time. From what I could see of the windows, they too liked incredibly expensive. I guess Jessica wasn't joking about his money.   
  
"Hello?" Asked a voice from the side of the gate. I looked around wildly, my eyes finally resting on the button. God, I hoped no one had seen me just standing there dazedly.   
  
"Um, hi, I'm Katia Lockston, I've been invited here by Lu - um, Mr. Malfoy." I said nervously. Whoever was at the other end didn't question me further, and the gates swung open. I walked quickly along the white-pebble path, slightly upset at how fast I had to walk. I wasn't the sort of person who was interested in gardens, frankly they bore me, but this one was something I didn't want to miss.  
  
As I reached the towering manor, the door opened. Lucius Malfoy was already there, waiting for me, smiling. He looked annoyingly great, his robes suited him perfectly, and his hair wasn't quick so flyaway as it usually was.  
  
"Hi, Katia." He smiled. "I heard your conversation with the elf, you may call me Lucius."  
  
"You have a house elf?" I asked. He smiled again.  
  
"I have many. 5 elves attend to each room, but there are 10 in the kitchens." I nodded, impressed despite myself. "I'll take your coat," He said, slipping my long black coat off my back. I wished I'd worn something else now, a dress or something. I wasn't sure what to wear, so I had just worn a blue blouse and black trousers, which really, didn't suit me at all.  
  
"Do you mind if I change, quickly?" I asked, hoping I didn't sound as stupid as I thought I did. "Only, I wasn't really sure what kind of dinner this would be, and, well, I look awful."  
  
"You look fine." He laughed. "But of course, if you want to." I magicked myself into my favourite dress; it was long (I know long dresses are apparently out of fashion at the moment, but I don't feel comfortable wearing anything short), red, and sparkling, and went perfectly with my hair, which was also long and red. (red, not ginger! My hair is naturally blonde but I hate it, so I dye it red) I considered magicking a tiara in my hair; I really liked them, despite what everyone else thought of them. But I decided better of it.  
  
"Well, I stand mistaken, much better." He smiled. I nodded, feeling very uncomfortable.  
  
"Is Draco around?" I asked.  
  
"Draco?" He asked, looking surprised. "No, I sent him up to his room. The house elves will send food up for him later on. He just gets in the way otherwise."   
  
"Oh," I said blankly. Well, I couldn't just ASK for him, could I? I think he got the picture from my face though, because he asked,  
  
"Do you want to see him?"  
  
"Well, he wouldn't bother me, and I'm sure YOU'D much rather if he was here?" I said, hopefully. He looked even more confused.  
  
"No, I wouldn't, but if it's what you want..." He put out his foot so that a passing house-elve stumbled and fell over it. "Trinny, go and fetch Draco and tell him there's been a change of plan, and he can come downstairs." He hissed at it. Trinny looked up at him in confusion.  
  
"Sir has locked young Malfoy's door, Trinny cannot reach high enough, Sir." Lucius glowered at her.  
  
"Then go and get another house elve and stand on it's shoulders, idiot." He snarled. Trinny nodded quickly.  
  
"OK, Sir, I should have thought of that, Sir..." She said, scurrying off. Lucius turned back to me, a smirk on his face.  
  
"House elves these days, they should be a bit more, well, clever." He said. A laughed weakly, fully aware I had been looking at him strangely. It looked like Jessica had been right; he WAS a bastard.  
  
A few minutes later, Draco Malfoy walked slowly down the stairs, looking worried.  
  
"Yes, father?" He asked.  
  
"As you can see, Draco, we have a guest with us today." Lucius snarled at him, gesturing over at me. Draco looked mildly surprised, like he had only just noticed me standing there. "Well, aren't you going to say hello to her?" He snapped.  
  
"Hi, Katia." He said obediantly. I was about to respond, when Lucius took a firm hold of his hand, digging his nails into his son's skin.  
  
"Where are your manners, Draco?" He asked. "You do not call a teacher by her first name when you are a student in her class." He whispered at him. Draco nodded, wincing with pain.  
  
"Hi Miss. Lockston, how are you today?" He asked, his voice slightly strained. I frowned at him, unable to work out why Lucius was hurting him like that.  
  
"Hi Draco, I'm fine, thanks for asking...and you?" I asked eventually. Draco gave me a small smile, and looked up at his dad, clearly unaware of how he should answer.  
  
"Um, I'm...fine...thanks..." He said, wincing more than ever as Lucius applied more pressure. He looked very confused; clearly his dad was expecting him to ask something else, but he couldn't work out what that was. "You look nice." He said eventually, looking at his dad to see whether he had said the correct thing. Clearly he had, as his father released his hand.  
  
"Thank you." I said, beaming at him. "You've raised him well." I said to Lucius, thinking that I should at least try and help Draco out. Lucius smiled at me, but I could see a slight sneer on his face as he turned to his son.  
  
"Thank you, thank you, but this is Draco on a bgood/b day. Normally he won't do anything, he's just pathetic and rude, and he can't do anything right." He said, looking incredibly disgusted. "You'd think that, seeing how well trained both of his parents were, that he would be a little better, but no." I couldn't help but think, that if Draco's mother had been anything like Lucius, then it was actually a wonder at how well behaved Draco was.  
  
"Sir, dinner is ready!" The house elf called Trinny asked as she ran into the room. Lucius nodded at her.  
  
"Thank you, Trinny. If you'd like to follow me, I'll take you to the dining area." He said, linking his arm with mine. This made me feel very uncomforatable, but I didn't refuse. He held his chin up high, and I could tell it was going to be hard work keeping up with him; he just seemed like one of those people who would know exactly how to do, 'the walk'. Draco began to walk slowly behind us, but Lucius stopped and glowered at him. "Draco, go and get changed, put something decent on, do your hair, and just look respectable, you're embarrassing me." He muttered, continuing to lead me through a corridor. I was right, he had an incredibly posh walk, that forced me to hurry to keep up with, hoping that I wouldn't start laughing.  
  
As we walked through the corridor, I couldn't help but admire it. The walls were decorated with large, expensive paintings, as well as other items such as more tropical plants, expensive cutlery, and more.   
  
As we entered the dining room (with a large number '3' on the door) I noticed that this room was very different. Everything inside it was expensive, yes, but at one side of the room sat a small table, on which photographs of the Malfoys sat. Lucius looked at them, and turned back to me, looking slightly embarrassed.  
  
"I forgot those pictures were there." He told me. "We don't usually use this dining room, but the first is having work done on it at the moment. The second, which is the one I was planning to use, had been decorated ready for the occasion, but Draco told me he didn't think you would like how it was set out." He said, shooting a dark look at him.  
  
"I'm sure I won't mind it there, if you've already made an effort then I'd love to see it." I told him, curious despite myself. This room was very bland, it didn't seem like much effort had gone into it all.   
  
"I'm glad you said that," Lucius smiled. "I'll go and get the elves to send dinner downstairs then." He told me. (we were on the first floor at the moment, of what I think was somewhere around 5 floors) As he left, I moved over to the small table and began politely looking at the pictures. The majority of them were of Lucius with important looking people; three of them were of him and another woman, both smiling at the camera, though Lucius' expression looked very fake. The main thing I noticed though, was that there were none of Draco. I turned round, and saw him standing uncomfortably a short distance away from me.  
  
"Don't you like having your picture up?" I asked him. He shrugged.  
  
"I don't mind..." He said slowly. "But mother and father have never taken a picture of me before, they said it would ruin it."   
  
"Oh," I said, looking very surprised. I was going to ask him why, but I decided it would probably upset him. In fact, there were a lot of questions I wanted to ask him about his relationship with the rest of his family, but I didn't really think it would be a good idea. Instead, I pointed at the woman in the photographs.  
  
"Is that your mum?" I asked him. He nodded, looking more depressed than before.  
  
"She left when I was about 8. She'd been fighting with father for a while already, about me, most of the time." He said. "But father really went mad when he came home with the Minister and found her with me; said it didn't really make a good impression to see me lying on the floor covered in blood, with her kicking me. Said that was the reason anyway, but he was desperate to get rid of her all the same." His tone of voice said was trying to make me believe he didn't really care; his expression said differently. "And that was about 7 years ago, father has his whores, but he hasn't really been with anyone." He informed me. I didn't say anything, unsure of whether that was a joke or not.  
  
"You don't get on with your mum then?" I said, ignoring the fact that that was probably the understatement of the century. He shrugged.  
  
"I loved her...and I still do...but she hated me." He said, his voice breaking slightly. I knew it was hard for him to talk about this. Hearing Draco Malfoy of all people, say the word 'love,' proved that this was the last conversation he had ever expected to have.  
  
"And your dad, you don't seem to get on with him too much?"  
  
"He hates me too, but not as much as she did. He hurts me a lot, but I don't think he wants me dead like she does. But I still love him and all..." he said, beginning to look uncomfortable. "No one else loves their parents, I'm just weird like that."  
  
"Do you still see your mother?"  
  
"Not really. I want to, even though everytime she sees me she hits me." He paused, looking thoughtful. "Besides, father wouldn't allow it, he tries to keep me from her. If there's someone he doesn't like, then I can't see them, and if there's someone he likes, then I HAVE to see them a lot, I have to put up with them, even if I don't like them. I don't think my parents ever loved each other anyway, I don't think my dad is actually capable of loving anyone, he doesn't have any friends, he just pretends to, and he -" He stopped abruptly, looking over my shoulder at the door. I didn't need to look to guess who it was, didn't need to hear the cold voice.  
  
"Draco, it's not a good idea for you to be telling lies to our guests." He said, his cold eyes burning with what looked like hatred. Draco cowered slightly under his father's furious glance.  
  
"I - I, I didn't - I..." He stammered, looking like he was about to burst into tears at any moment.   
  
"Don't lie to me!" Lucius yelled, slamming his fist into the side of Draco's face with such force that his son fell to the floor, cracking his head hard against the edge of the table as he fell. As he landed, he gave me a quick, depressed glance, before clenching his eyes tightly shut from what I guess was to stop himself from crying from the pain. Lucius muttered something I didn't catch, before kicking his son hard in the knee so that he let out a yelp of pain. "Let's go then, shall we?" He asked me. I wondered how he could do something like that to his son, and then talk so calmly to me.  
  
"He wasn't saying anything bad about you." I told him, coldly, surprised at how confident my voice sounded. "He was hardly even talking about you." Lucius looked slightly caught off guard, but shook his head all the same.  
  
"He was still telling lies." He said.   
  
"Aren't you at least going to check that he's OK?" I asked, looking down at the pathetic heap that was Draco Malfoy. He'd curled himself up as tight as he could, one hand covering his eyes to hide what I guessed was his tears. He was shaking violently, and I wasn't sure whether that was from fear of his father, the pain of being attacked, or just from his crying. It was very likely to be all 3.  
  
"What?" Lucius asked, looking confused. "He told lies, and he was punished. He's had worse than that before. Draco, when you've calmed down, you may come and eat your dinner." He told him. It didn't seem to have occured to him that he had done anything wrong. Exasperated, I knealt down by Draco's side, and put my hand gently on his back. He flinched slightly; I guess he thought I was his father.  
  
"Calm down," I told him, glaring up at Lucius. "Do you know how much you've hurt him?" Lucius looked confused again.  
  
"It was just one slap." He said. "It can't have hurt him that much, he's just being a wimp and trying to get attention."   
  
"Would you at least look at him?" I snapped. Sighing, Lucius yanked Draco's hand away from his face. I have to say, that it was then that I decided that maybe Lucius Malfoy wasn't quite so bad as I'd been thinking. He took one startled look at his son's depressed face, took in the tears that covered it, saw the blood that was leaking from where he'd collided to the table, before instantly calling a house elf for help, and apoligising to his son.  
  
So he wasn't quite as fatherly as most people were; he didn't hug him, he certainly wouldn't kiss him, he wasn't particularly comforting, but he tried. He took hold of his son's hand, and though he was probably hurting him from the pressure, he thought he was helping. And he even asked Draco if he was OK, and actually seemed genuinely interested in hearing the answer. And as we left Draco's room, leaving him in the company of Trinny the house elf, I began to think - hope - that maybe Lucius would actually start being the father Draco always thought he was.  
  
Well, probably not. But I could still hope.  
  
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By the end of the night, it was like me and Lucius were almost - well - bfriends/b. I could just imagine the look on Jessica Harwood's face when I told her how sweet Lucius had been! Well, I'll be honest, he wasn't exactly SWEET. But he did make an effort, and during dinner went to check on his son twice. At least, I think it was just to check on him, I decided I would just trust him and not follow him.  
  
Lucius hadn't been lying about decorating the room; flowers and ribbons were everywhere, and the lights had been fitted with a special cover so that purple light shone across the room. I had to admit, that Lucius looked VERY nice when in the glow of the purple lights - ick, forget I just said that.  
  
I hated to admit it, but I really had a great time. After the shock of seeing Draco, Lucius seemed to have calmed down, and had become almost charming. He really was quite sweet, very funny, and full of entertaining stories about things that had happened at the Ministry.   
  
"Are you going to stay the night?" He asked suddenly. "Only most people do. You could share my room, it's a very rare priviledge to be given access. Or you could sleep in another room, we've got a few guest rooms, or if you really wanted, you can sleep in Draco's room, I'll get one of the elves to bring you a bed, you seem to like him." He said, sounding so serious I had to burst out laughing. I was slightly worried I'd offended him, but he smiled at me.  
  
"I'll stay." I told him firmly.  
  
"And where would you like to sleep?"  
  
"Where would you prefer?" He raised his eyebrow, making me burst into laughter again.   
  
"Well, I thought you'd want to stay in my room, it being such a privilidge and all." He said, beginning to laugh slightly himself. "And I promise I don't snore, though don't expect to get an early night because the chances of me shutting up are very low." I laughed again (and no, I'm not drunk, I'm a goody-goody that doesn't actually drink at all)  
  
"Sounds good." I told him. "Do you mind if I use your phone quickly? My room-mates are expecting me home, and it's just like them to wait up all night, wondering if I'll be back soon."  
  
"Sure. There's one just in the corridor, right outside this room.  
  
"Thanks," I said. I found the phone straight away, and quickly dialled the number, unable to remove the grin that had spread across my face. It was picked up instantly, and Jessica's voice began shrieking at me about how it was.  
  
"You know," I began, once she had finally stopped talking. "If I wasn't Katia, this would be very embarrassing for you, wouldn't it?"  
  
"I would just hang up," she said, sounding incredibly confused.  
  
"Well...anyway...it went fine, everything went well, dinner was great, blah blah blah." I told her.  
  
"And just how much of a bastard is Lucius Malfoy?" Asked Jessica. I glanced briefly at the open door; Lucius was still eating his dinner, he didn't seem to have heard.  
  
"Not one at all, he's very nice." I told her, having to speak loudly over her disbelieving squarks. "Anyway, when you're done complaining, I just wanted to tell you that I'm staying the night." I said. She instantly went silent.  
  
"What?" She asked.  
  
"At the Manor. I'm spending the night at the Manor." I repeated. Jessica remained silent for a while. I was actually feeling quite disappointed at the way she wasn't complaining about it, so I decided to add the rest of the twist. "Don't worry, I won't be alone, I'll be in Lucius' room...with Lucius." I told her, and she began screaming again. There was a distant noise of equal screaming; my guess was that Ann had also heard.  
  
"What's wrong with you?" She was shrieking so loudly I had to hold the phone away from my ear, but she was beginning to laugh at the same time.   
  
"When you're quite finished, I have dinner to finish." I told her, promptly hanging up. 


	4. Chapter 04: The Next Day

The next morning I awoke feeling tired than I ever had before. I couldn't even remember what I had done last night - though the only thing I knew was that I wasn't drunk, beacause - oh yeah, I've told you about that before.  
  
I yawned and stretched my arms out, my eyes still closed, still half absorbed in a bizarre dream I'd been having about Jessica being pregnant with Snape - and instantly awoke as my arm touched something to the side of me. I sat up suddenly, and looked to my side - and it was pretty much then that I realised why I was so tired. NO, nothing like that, damn perverts, but I'd stayed awake most of the night talking to Lucius. I was sharing his bed as well, though there was nothing remotely sexual about it - in fact, we'd both gone to sleep fully clothed, which I realised was a bad idea in the boiling heat, as my dress continually stuck to me.  
  
I looked over at Lucius, who was still sleeping soundly, his long hair a mess around his pale face. He was cute when he was sleeping, though I did think he was slightly in danger of swallowing too much of his own hair. He suddenly made a muffled noise, and turned so he was facing away from me. It was only then that I noticed the small tattoo on his arm, the symbol that could only mean one thing. I let out a gasp as I looked at it, the noise instantly waking Lucius, who looked at me with a worried expression.  
  
"What's up?" He asked, frowning slightly. I didn't answer him directly, but gestured towards his arm. He didn't even have to look at it to know what I was talking about. "Ah." He said. "Yes." I glowered at him.  
  
"So the rumours are true then?" I asked him coldly.  
  
"Well," He began, in a very serious voice. "They could be. But that would depend on which rumour you are talking about?" I gaped at him. Wasn't that obvious?  
  
"That you're a Death Eater," I said, unable to remove the disbelief from my voice.   
  
"Ah. Yes, I thought that was coming." He said, staring straight into my eyes. I looked away; I didn't trust myself to be able to argue with him if I was looking him in the eye.  
  
"Well of course you did, seeing as it was blatantly obvious what the problem was."   
  
"Why are you being like this?" He asked. "Why are you just assuming that because I have the tattoo that I am one?"   
  
"You're well known for being the leading Death Eater, Lucius." I said quietly.   
  
"Oh, so it's like that." He said, sounding slightly exasperated. "Yesterday you would have - Would you at least look at me?" He asked, his voice getting slightly high-pitched. He sounded desperate, so without really thinking, I looked up at him. "Right, thank you. Now just last night you were so nice to me, you got along with me, and it was like we were friends, yesterday you would have listened to me but today you won't even give me a chance, you're just going along with all the things your other friends have said!"  
  
"Luce, you have the tattoo, you can't deny that!" I said, pointing at it.  
  
"You're right, I can't deny I have the tattoo. You can see it, and so can I, and there's just no point lying about it. And I can't deny I was a Death Eater, again, the tattoo. And yeah, I was probably one of the leading ones - but not any more! Times change, people change, and you know that."   
  
"Then why aren't you any more?" I asked.  
  
"Because they killed my only true friend, OK?!?" He shouted. "Yeah, I actually had a friend, but not any more, and they promised they wouldn't. Said I'm not even worthy if I'd rather have a friend then hang around with that bunch of idiots, so I left, OK, you happy now?" He said, still shouting at the top of his voice. Again, I looked away and stared down at the bed covers. I was never good with people shouting at me, I ALWAYS got really upset about it, and the last person I wanted to cry in front of was Lucius Malfoy. So I settled for staring down at the bed, concentrating as hard as I could, willing myself not to cry. We sat in silence for a while, me just staring down at the bed; I could feel Lucius watching him, but didn't turn around.   
  
"Hey," He said eventually, his voice much softer this time. "I didn't mean to yell at you like that, I really didn't. I'm sorry, K?" I continued to ignore him. He pulled up one of his hands and placed it gently on the shoulder nearest to him. "Really sorry." He said. "Please, won't you look at me at least?" He asked, pulling himself up into a sitting posistion. I twisted away from him instantly, beginning to cry, just like I knew I would.  
  
At around that moment, someone knocked at the door, and without waiting for an answer, walked in. It was Draco, his hair a mess, his clothes scruffy from where he slept in them. He had a large plaster on one side of his face.  
  
"Oh, hi." He said, looking slightly surprised to see me. "Um..." He said, looking at Lucius, clearly unsure of whether he should go and make himself presentable before talking.  
  
"Go away." Lucius muttered. Draco pretended to not hear him.  
  
"It's just that, you're supposed to be meeting the Minister soon." He began. "Remember? That meeting about that charity?"  
  
"GO AWAY!" Lucius snarled. This time Draco couldn't pretend to ignore him, and looking slightly annoyed, he left the room, looking like he was about to slam the door but - probably thankfully - changing his mind at the last second. "Look, he's right, I've got to go." He continued talking to me. "Please stay? And we can finish talking later, I promise. I'll tell you everything you want to know, whether you're going to like the truth or not." I nodded, hating the fact that I was believing him. I turned slowly to him, looking very embarrassed from where I had been crying; there had only been a few tears, and they had long since stopped, but I expected the marks were still there.  
  
"God I'm sorry." He murmered as he caught sight of me; clearly I had been right.  
  
"It's fine." I muttered.  
  
"No, it's not, I'll cancel..." He began. I shook my head.  
  
"No, it's not your fault."  
  
"Of course it is, no one other than me has been a complete bastard recently, have they?"  
  
"Yeah, they have." I said slowly, giving him a small smile. He looked slightly confused. "I have, I should have just believed you." I told him, knowing full well that I shouldn't have, but it seemed to cheer him all the same.  
  
"Oh, no, I'm the one who upset you."  
  
"I always cry when people shout at me, it is the most stupid problem ever and I know I'm so damn pathetic, but it -"  
  
"I don't think you're pathetic." I opened my mouth to begin arguing again, but he'd caught me off guard. Instead I looked at him, my mouth slightl open; until I realised how stupid I looked and closed it again, looking away. "Will you stay until I get back?" I nodded.  
  
"How long are you going to be?"  
  
"I don't know, it shouldn't be too long, I'll make excuses and leave if I need to. Draco's here, he'll keep you company, though if you want to kick him out then you can, I don't care."  
  
"I won't kick him out."  
  
"Alright, but just remember, if you want to, you can. And if you want anything, get the house-elves too, I'll tell one of them to make sure all of them know they are to obey you. You want a massage, a meal, anything, you just bug them." He smiled. "Of course, you could always wait for me, I'm sure anything they can do I can do better..." He said, a cheeky smirk beginning to play around his lips. I laughed.  
  
"OK."  
  
"You can look around the rest of the place if you want, and if you want to go for a look around the town or whatever then you can, I'll get the house elves to give you some money...though I'd prefer it if you waited for me to come back so I could come too?"  
  
"I won't be going anywhere."   
  
"OK." He said, watching me with a strange expression on his face. "I'll...um...see you later, then..."  
  
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I spent around the first hour or so, probably more, just exploring the Manor. I don't mean it took me that long to walk round the house, I mean, the house is big but not THAT big, but one of the elves had offered to take me a tour and I accepted. The tour was quite interesting I suppose, it wasn't so much historical facts as it was memorable events that had happened in each room, the majority of which I found entertaining, but by the end my legs ached and I just wanted to sit down. The house elf who was taking me in the tour obliged happily, and lead me to a room on the top floor, just a few doors away from Lucius' room. The elf was planning on taking me to a room that was only accessible from Lucius' room, she was sure he wouldn't mind if he'd let me sleep in his room, and though I really wanted to check it out (Lucius had said he was going to show me but had left before he'd had the time) I wanted to talk to Draco, and I didn't think Lucius would be too happy to find out his son was in there. So the elf, Loge, (pronnounced, Low-g) took me to the other room instead. It was nice, and obviously well used, with lots of squashy white leather furniture that I strongly doubted Lucius liked. All across one wall was a huge TV screen, with piles and piles of videos and DVD's underneath it. I was keen to look through them all but I decided it wasn't really polite, and so settled for watching the ordinary TV instead.  
  
"Would madam be wanting anything?" Asked Loge, bobbing around happily by my foot.  
  
"No, that's OK, I'll get anything if I need it." I said, smiling at her.  
  
"Loge would be much happier if madam was to let Loge get her her things." Loge announced.  
  
"That's nice of you, Loge, but...actually, could you fetch Draco for me?" I asked her. Loge nodded happily.  
  
"Pleased to be of your service, madam!" She said happily as she skipped out of the room.  
  
"And call me Katia!" I called after her.  
  
It didn't take very long at all for Loge to return with Draco. I guess Draco was only a few doors away, though I wasn't sure which one.  
  
"Begging your pardon for taking so long, madam, but Master Lucius had locked the door and I needed help to open it." I nodded.  
  
"That's fine, Loge, and it didn't take long at all. Thanks for bringing him, and please call me Katia." I said. I just didn't like being called Madam, it made me feel uncomfortable! As Loge scurried off, a huge smile spread across her face, Draco fixed me with a curious look.  
  
"What did I do wrong?" He asked. I blinked at him.  
  
"What are you talking about?"  
  
"Isn't that why you made Loge fetch me? Because you want to punish me?" He said, looking more and more confused.   
  
"No." I said. "Why would you think that?"  
  
"Because I'm always locked in my room all day, and I'm only allowed to leave if I need to make a good impression on someone, or if I'm about to be hit." He said. "Sometimes for dinner, but usually one of the elves just brings me up leftovers." I couldn't help but think he was exaggerating - that or I just didn't want to believe him anyway.  
  
"You got out easily enough this morning." I said, raising an eyebrow.  
  
"That's because, thanks to you, father forgot to lock my door." He said. "Thanks for that." I nodded, still not wanting to believe him. "Well, do you want me to go back to my room now?" He asked.  
  
"No...I just thought you'd want to watch TV with me or something, if you want to go back you can though."   
  
"No, I'll stay." He said, looking happier than I'd seen him so far, as he sat down on the sofa next to me.  
  
"Do you want to watch anything?"  
  
"I don't mind."  
  
"Well, do you mind talking? I mean, I made all that effort to fetch you, the least you could do is have a conversation with me." I said, smiling. He nodded thoughtfully, before turning to me, a strange look on his face.   
  
"What do you think of my dad then?" He asked me. I stared at him for a while.  
  
"Well, I don't really know him..." I began.  
  
"I'm sure he's told you all sorts of lies, hasn't he?" He asked, his voice strangely wild sounding. "I bet he told you he'd been single for years, well, that's a massive lie. I saw him talking very privately with my mother last week out in the gardens. And the amount of times he's brought home sluts to keep him company during the night lately! And like he poisoned your drink to get you into bed with him." I stared at him again, choosing to just ignore the first bit.  
  
"What?"  
  
"Well he obviously did. You wouldn't have slept with him for any other reason. I saw you crying this morning, when you found yourself in bed with him." The situation was just so funny I couldn't help but laugh.  
  
"Lucius never left the table for starters, and the elves wouldn't poison my drink. In fact, the only thing I DID drink, was coke, straight from the bottle!" I told him. "And not that it's any of your business, though I shared a bed with him, there wasn't anything sexual to do with it, we both slept in our full clothes, alright?" I said, fully aware of how angry I was beginning to sound. "And he didn't lie about anything, he was honest about everything, he told me everything I wanted to know, and when he gets back, he'll be just as honest as before!" I shrieked, not really aware if I was even making sense anymore.  
  
"He wasn't honest though, was he?" Draco said darkly.  
  
"What are you talking about now?" I snapped, beginning to realise just why Lucius was always so harsh on him.  
  
"Sure, he told you everything about his Dark Mark, once you'd already seen it." He began, smirking slightly. "But he didn't bother mentioning he had one in the first place, did he?" I watched him cautiously for a moment, not wanting him to know he was right.  
  
"Well, it's not the sort of thing you talk about on a first date, is it?" I spat. "Do you really think he's going to go around telling everyone he meets that he has the Mark? Grow up and stop trying to cause trouble!" I shrieked at him.   
  
"I warned you he lied." A voice from the doorway announced. Lucius Malfoy was leaning in the doorway; judging by his cold face, he'd heard every word.  
  
"I was joking." Draco said quickly. "And Katia knows that, right?" He asked me. I ignored him.  
  
"Hey Luce." I said, sounding much happier than I felt. "How was it?"  
  
"It was fine." He said, coldly. "And I'll tell you all about it in just a moment, once Draco explains himself." He said, his grey eyes boring deep into Draco's, who looked positively terrified. Draco opened his mouth to respond, but fell silent at the look on his father's face. "Exactly." Lucius muttered. "Can I hit him now?" He asked me, never taking his eyes away from Draco's. I was going to argue that it still wasn't right to hurt him, but right now I was too annoyed with him to care.  
  
"Do what you want, he's your son." I told him. At this, Lucius glanced over at me, confused at why I wasn't trying to protect Draco. He looked like he was about to change his mind at first, but clearly his fury towards his son was too much. As he approached his son, Draco began to whimper, but Lucius ignored this completely. If anything, it seemed to spur him on more. At last, he reached him, and with a quick look in my direction to check I wasn't going to object, he smacked Draco hard round the face, throwing him to the floor, and kicked him hard in the chest.   
  
"Right, now we've got that out of the way, how'd you like to come back to my room, and we can talk some more there?" He asked.  
  
"OK." I said, getting up and following him, refusing to look back at Draco.  
  
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Lucius seemed rather calm and serious after his encounter with Draco. He muttered an apology for whatever his son had said, and then allowed me the oppurtunity to ask any questions about anything Draco may have said. I spread myself out across the bed, facing him. ((don't worry, I'd changed since then and was now wearing black velvet trousers with a matching velvet vest-top)) Damn his bed was comfortable.  
  
"He said you'd met your wife last week and were talking 'very privately'," I said, quoting Draco. "What's that all about?"  
  
"You know all he wants is to make you abandon me, right?" He asked. I nodded.  
  
"I got that feeling, yes, but you did say you would be honest, and judging by the way you're avoiding answering...?" He frowned slightly, more at himself than at me, before sitting down on his bed and leaning against the wall. I sat up and moved out of the way slightly till I was sitting right next to him.  
  
"First of all, ex-wife, we just don't make that very publicised as it would ruin both of our respectivity, etc etc." He said, still frowning to himself. "And second of all, yes, I did talk to her, yes, it was private. Not because I didn't want anyone to know I was talking to her, but because I didn't want Draco to hear, and judging by the way he isn't launched himself into pathetic attention seeking hysterics yet, we succeeded in that."  
  
"He heard you though..." I said, feeling very confused. Lucius shook his head, and turned himself around slightly so he was just facing me.  
  
"He knew I was talking to her, but he didn't know what we were talking about..." He seemed to be thinking hard. "Look, she'd come to see me to talk about Draco. Draco wouldn't like it if he heard, and so I haven't told him yet, I'm saving it till I need something big to use against him."  
  
"Did she want to take him or something?"  
  
"Not really, but something like that." I nodded.  
  
"But you don't want to tell me the whole reason?"  
  
"I want to, but I really can't...maybe...maybe if we're still getting along in a few weeks I'll tell you?" I nodded.  
  
"It's up to you," I told him, though I thought it was obvious that I wanted to know. So I'm nosy. Live with it.  
  
"Anything else you want to ask?"  
  
"Um...Were you going to tell me about the Mark?"  
  
"Of course I was, because even if I didn't, I'm sure you'd have found out before too long. But yeah, I was going to tell you, just not straightaway. If it was up to me, you wouldn't have found out just like that. I wanted to wait till we were properly getting on, so I'd know you wouldn't blow up at me for it." I nodded. "Anything else?" He asked again.  
  
"I don't think so."  
  
"OK, then can I ask you something?"  
  
"OK," I said nervously, slightly worried by the serious note in his voice.  
  
"Will you stay the night again?" He asked, smirking at the look on my face. I laughed slightly.  
  
"Sure."  
  
"Great," He said, grinning. "In that case, you better let me know what you want to eat, because no matter how much you tried to hide it, I saw how much you hated yesterdays dinner." I laughed.  
  
"It was delicious considering I hate pies, yes." Lucius laughed as well.  
  
"So what do you want?"  
  
"Well, I know being as posh as you are you've probably never tried it, but what would you think of eating fast food?" Lucius looked at me with an expression of mock horror.  
  
"This fast food - it - it disgusts me!" He said.   
  
"Right, we're having it then. McDonalds it is!" I announced. "Sure you can live with it?"  
  
"I'll try." I watched him for a while, thinking about him, until I realised I was staring and looked away. "What?" He asked, curiously.  
  
"You're just a lot different to how I expected you to be." I said, blushing. "My friend Je-" I stopped, thinking she wouldn't have wanted to be named. "-nnifer works with you sometimes and she's told me all sorts of rumours about how awful you are. And you're not at all like she said."  
  
"Jessica, you mean," He smirked. I glared at him.  
  
"How did you know?"  
  
"Heard her on the phone."  
  
"Yeah, it was kinda hard to miss, wasn't it?"  
  
"Precisely."  
  
"But you really are different. Like just now. I didn't expect you to really tell me all that stuff."  
  
"Well, is this different to how you expected me to be?" He asked suddenly, leaning over and kissing me. I kissed him back for a few seconds - he was so gentle, so sweet, and his lips had a slightly sickly-sweet taste to them that I loved - before suddenly pulling away from him and looking down at the bed. I didn't know why I pulled away; I really liked him, I was enjoying the kiss, and yet I just suddenly decided not to.   
  
"Sorry." He murmered. "There I go again, I'm always being like that to you."  
  
"No, I don't know why I pulled away from you." I muttered. "It's not you with the problem, it's me."  
  
"OK," He said, not sounding remotely convinced. "Do you want to go and talk to Draco or something while I stay here?"  
  
"Not particularly." I told him. "But if you're just trying to get me to leave, I will."  
  
"It's nothing like that. I just thought you'd want some time away from ME."  
  
"Of course I don't." I said, leaning over and kissing HIM to prove my point. Again, it was only a short kiss, but it got him to pay attention all the same. "Now, if I'm staying the night we need to think of more topics to talk about all night long." 


End file.
